Youth day long weekend

We had a nice long and sunny weekend here in South Africa as Monday was Youth day, commemorating Soweto day. (That's why I am able to exactly remember what I did 10 years ago this weekend!).
Saturday was spend the pretty normal way around our house at present - H and the gardener busy with maintenance work on the house and me frantically trying to do something, anything, in the house apart from just looking after the kids and keeping all and sunder's tummies full and the kitchen clean and tidy. I managed to take a few nice photos of The Boys.
I also managed to go horse riding and had a very rewarding class on a horse with a bad reputation, Shakala. He did so well and I am so proud of what I could accomplish with him. He is a pretty big horse, 16 and a half hands and a cross Nooitgedachter Thoroughbred and very attractive.

Sunday was off course Daddy's day. Dad got spoiled with new slippers from the puppies, a new sweater from The Boys and a mug with her school photos on from The Little Miss. I have kept the school photos a surprise for the day

We spend the day at home with my mom coming over for lunch. H insisted on cooking, as he does most Sundays, as he enjoys it.

I really have to mention what a lovely and extremely dedicated dad H is. People often comment that the Lord knows to which women to give twins. I disagree, He knows to which men to give twins because without the support of a hands-on dad, bringing up twins will be impossible. H is that, and so much more. And I love him for it all.
Monday was another peaceful day at home , spent much like Saturday. A and I did however visit a big toy shop. As I have so little time for the mundane tasks in life, I like to be prepared for at least some things. So, I do a big shopping expedition once or twice a year to buy kiddies birthday gifts for all the parties the kids get invited to. Earlier the year I did a big bookshop expedition and am now stocked with books for the 2 to 5 year old age group. I love to give a book as a gift as I truly believe a book is an enduring and lasting gift versus a toy that might be broken the next day. I do however like to give a little "junk" toy something with the book as most kids get excited about the junk first and enjoy the book later.

So on Monday, we did the "junk" toy shopping at a Chinese shop with stacks and stacks of stuff and we also found a toy for next weekend's first birthday party we will attend. We got Barbie doll dresses (made in China), for R15,00 ( that is about 2 US$) - almost for free (the cost of 2 litres of milk to give you an idea). And little swords for the boys for R9,00 - also some "build in yourself" helicopters for R 12,00. Before we went to the shop, I told A that she can have one toy ( subject to approval) to select herself,and one toy only. She first chose plastic high heeled shoes (she loves those shoes), but then changed her mind and chose a hula skirt and flowers (cost R16,00 for the skirt, R 6,00 for the flowers - cheap!). She has no clue what a hula skirt is and I will teach her something about Hawaii, but for now in her books, it is a princess skirt. Yes, my child has a princess fetish - but this warrants a whole post on its own. I did buy her two Barbie dresses for her dolls, colouring book and bubbles, but only gave her the Barbie dresses later and she had to choose only 2 from the stack I bought - a difficult choice for her. She chose a wedding dress ( no surprise) and a Cinderella dress ( no surprise, the princess thing again). The rest of the extra toys I will keep in stock for rewards. She danced and played and spend most of the day outside and fell asleep on the carpet at my feet while I was busy feeding the boys around 3 in the afternoon.